Pre-frosh Attend Talks on Sex

Two pre-frosh panels yesterday focused not on academics at the College or a particular student organization, but on a lesser known element of Harvard student life: sex.

The larger event, entitled “Sex at Harvard,” showcased a compilation of student groups that focused on sex-related issues, including True Love Revolution, H-Bomb, and Harvard Men Against Rape. The panel attracted about 40 prospective students, filling a packed Sever Hall classroom.

“We promote a positive philosophy about sex where we find great meaning and beauty in the act of sex,” said Leo J. Keliher ’10, president of True Love Revolution, the student advocacy group that promotes premarital abstinence.

Keliher was seated next to Brandon T. Perkovich ’11, the president of H-Bomb, Harvard’s student-run sex magazine. Perkovich emphasized the importance of encouraging an open dialogue about sexual relations on campus.

“We believe we’re at a unique crossroads in history,” Perkovich said. “Sex has never been quite so visible or quite so dangerous.” The seven-person panel began with a question from Sarah Rankin, director of the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response, who asked the audience to guess how many sexual partners the average Harvard student has in a year.

Only a handful of attendees guessed zero, but Rankin listed statistics from the National College Health Assessment at Harvard which reported that 42% of respondents had zero sexual partners in the last academic year, 31% had one, and 10% had two.

The discussion covered a range of topics including sexual assault prevention, final clubs, contraceptives, and the queer community.

Scott D. Kominers ’09, a representative for the Harvard Men Against Rape, said that while it may be difficult to find students at Harvard who are “pro-rape,” sexual assaults do still occur on campus.

OSAPR Student Ally Alexandra N. Bolm ’09 added that OSAPR does not intend to promote “fear tactics” at the panel.

“We’re trying to foster really respectful relationships between people, whether it’s for one night or whether it’s for years,” Bolm said.

Harvard College Queer Students and Allies Co-Chair Marco Chan ’11 attended both the student group panel and a second panel exclusively devoted to queer issues.

The smaller queer life event yesterday afternoon included student and staff panelists who emphasized the size of Harvard’s queer community and the school’s “queer-friendly” environment.

“There are more homosexual people in here than I’ve ever met in my entire life,” said Ethan R. Pierce, a pre-frosh from a small town in Maine who added that he only knows two gay people at his high school of 800 students.

But panelists also made a point to discuss queer students who remain uninvolved with the QSA but are still considered members of the queer community.

“There are people who accept sexuality and desire but don’t think of it as the locus of their identity,” QSA Secretary Christian L. Garland ’10 said.

—Staff writer Danielle J. Kolin can be reached at dkolin@fas.harvard.edu.